Ac by level for melee [Archive] - Wizards Community

Ac by level for melee [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
SoulLord
10-31-03, 11:43 AM Im sure you have come across this yourselves

sometimes the ac of the melee fighters of the party is not proportionate to their level

i have seen from the "you cannot touch this" where their ac is very high even if their chances to hit are not so good (expertise,shield,etc.)

to the "hurt them before they hurt you" whose ac is relatively low but their damage ouptut is bigger (power attack,two-handed weapons, etc.)

In your experience what is a balanced ac by level for the guys that wade into melee and what do you do when the party has higher or lower than this ac

SoulLord
CaoSlayer
10-31-03, 12:08 PM I usually like to use the "adverage fighter" test.

Try to create a npc fighter using the usual things for the class that afects BAB.

by example, you wants to test a level 6 character.

A level 6 fighter will have:

BAB 6
starting 15 str, 16 in level 4 and a gauntle of ogre´s power (+4 to hit)
Weapon focus +1
Weapon +1 or +2.

so the adverage level 6 fighter will have +12-13/6 to hit.
So he will hit a 50%/25% of times a guy with AC 22-23 being this so the most balanced armor for a guy of that level.
SoulLord
10-31-03, 01:38 PM very interesting but as a dm what do you do if the melee fighters in the party instead of the "recomended" AC of 22-23 at 6th level to use as an example are significatively lower or higher

using you example again what do you do if the party averages

AC 28-29 where they are hit only with 19-20 10% of the time

or when the party has an ac of 17-18 where they are hit much more often iny our example the fighter would hit with a 5 or more roughly the chance to miss would be 25%

SoulLord
The Master Weaver Is Warped
10-31-03, 01:48 PM AC is the one thing that drives me totally bananas in D&D. It is always changing, with equipment and situation. What was fine 5 minutes ago is now inadequate.

I have contemplated taking armor out of the equation entirely. Scarce metal world in a city campagin. Heavy armor isn't made and isn't considered proper even if it was. I'd give every player an AC bonus equal to their BAB, + the normal ten and DEX bonus, and be done with the whole mess.
SoulLord
11-01-03, 12:08 PM the problem i usually face is if their ac is too high then the monsters needed to hit those ac make the pc drop like flies when thy do hit

or in the other case when the ac is very low theyll get weakened by the side encounters so much that they have a lot of trouble when dealing with the main encounter (most of the time they run out of healing spells)

SoulLord
Fixxxer
11-01-03, 01:50 PM I haven't found AC to be a real problem, despite the fact that it differs greatly from level to level with some games. The fact of the matter is that most people who have an obscenely high AC have focused all of their energy into getting this high AC (as opposed to jacking their attack or skills up). In this case, touch spells are a good solution. In the case of heavy armor, swimming is a good evil solution.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SoulLord 10-31-03, 11:43 AM	Im sure you have come across this yourselves sometimes the ac of the melee fighters of the party is not proportionate to their level i have seen from the "you cannot touch this" where their ac is very high even if their chances to hit are not so good (expertise,shield,etc.) to the "hurt them before they hurt you" whose ac is relatively low but their damage ouptut is bigger (power attack,two-handed weapons, etc.) In your experience what is a balanced ac by level for the guys that wade into melee and what do you do when the party has higher or lower than this ac SoulLord
CaoSlayer 10-31-03, 12:08 PM	I usually like to use the "adverage fighter" test. Try to create a npc fighter using the usual things for the class that afects BAB. by example, you wants to test a level 6 character. A level 6 fighter will have: BAB 6 starting 15 str, 16 in level 4 and a gauntle of ogre´s power (+4 to hit) Weapon focus +1 Weapon +1 or +2. so the adverage level 6 fighter will have +12-13/6 to hit. So he will hit a 50%/25% of times a guy with AC 22-23 being this so the most balanced armor for a guy of that level.
SoulLord 10-31-03, 01:38 PM	very interesting but as a dm what do you do if the melee fighters in the party instead of the "recomended" AC of 22-23 at 6th level to use as an example are significatively lower or higher using you example again what do you do if the party averages AC 28-29 where they are hit only with 19-20 10% of the time or when the party has an ac of 17-18 where they are hit much more often iny our example the fighter would hit with a 5 or more roughly the chance to miss would be 25% SoulLord
The Master Weaver Is Warped 10-31-03, 01:48 PM	AC is the one thing that drives me totally bananas in D&D. It is always changing, with equipment and situation. What was fine 5 minutes ago is now inadequate. I have contemplated taking armor out of the equation entirely. Scarce metal world in a city campagin. Heavy armor isn't made and isn't considered proper even if it was. I'd give every player an AC bonus equal to their BAB, + the normal ten and DEX bonus, and be done with the whole mess.
SoulLord 11-01-03, 12:08 PM	the problem i usually face is if their ac is too high then the monsters needed to hit those ac make the pc drop like flies when thy do hit or in the other case when the ac is very low theyll get weakened by the side encounters so much that they have a lot of trouble when dealing with the main encounter (most of the time they run out of healing spells) SoulLord
Fixxxer 11-01-03, 01:50 PM	I haven't found AC to be a real problem, despite the fact that it differs greatly from level to level with some games. The fact of the matter is that most people who have an obscenely high AC have focused all of their energy into getting this high AC (as opposed to jacking their attack or skills up). In this case, touch spells are a good solution. In the case of heavy armor, swimming is a good evil solution.